PESHAWAR, June 21: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal lawmakers termed the NWFP budget balanced, surplus, and welfare-oriented one here on Saturday.
Counting merits of the budget, Shah Raz Khan from Dir demanded of his government to slash the “fat purse” of Governor House as, according to him, the governor had no need to get a huge amount after the return of democracy.
He was of the view that with “martial law” gone, the governor had no role to play in a democratic era.
He said it was difficult for the government to allocate a huge amount for every district. However, it had tried to give more to the backward areas, ignored by successive governments. In a light way, though, he too complained that only two schemes had been included in the annual development programme — a prison and an road.
Another MMA MPA, Habibur Rahman, lauded the MMA government for presenting a surplus budget, reflecting the manifesto of the alliance. For the first time, the MMA government had allocated equal funds for the treasury, opposition, women and minorities’ lawmakers, he said.
Mohammad Amin suggested to the government to reduce allocations for the Governor’s House and Chief Minister’s House, and set up a fund for the unemployed youth.
Maulana Amanullah Haqqani disputed the “logic of the opposition”, and termed the budget a unique one in the context of limited resources. He lashed out at the opposition MPAs, who had held the Muslim clerics responsible for the backwardness of Muslim societies.
He said doing away with the English-style students uniform was aimed at brining the poor students at par with the well-off ones.
MMA’s MPA from Swabi, Abdul Majid Khan, held the centre responsible for the present state of affairs. The centre had control over the provincial resources, which gave birth to bulk of the problems, he added.
Shaukat Habib of the ANP said it was an uneven and unjust budget as his Kohat constituency had totally been ignored. The government had allocated bulk of the funds to Charsadda, Bannu and Buner, and neglected all others districts, he added.
Rifat Akbar Swati of the PPP (S) asked the government to check the mushroom growth of the so-called English-medium schools, and come out of the inferiority complex. She said the basic thing was not English language, but the quality of education.
The budget was devoid of any incentives for the sick industrial units in the province, but the government was making tall claims of providing employment to people, she added.
Ghazala Habib of the PPP (S) said a tyrannical government was doomed to end. The government had not allocated any amount for the ongoing schemes in her constituency, she added.
Engineer Hamid Iqbal of the PPP said the government should work for the establishment of a stock exchange market in the NWFP as it gave fillip to trade and commerce.
A former NWFP chief minister Inyatullah Gandapur asked the MMA government to provide Urdu version of the budget to the members as most of them were not well-versed in the English language.
He also demanded immediate release of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, incarcerated in the D.I. Khan prison.
